Announcing the $1000 ESOC Challenge Cup!

[Cometk]

The $1000 ESOC Challenge Cup

The First Big Competitive Event of the AoE3:DE Era

Click Here to Sign Up
Complete the Sign-Up Process with a Server Pings Screenshot Welcome back Ladies and Gentlemen, and without further ado it's my pleasure to introduce the first big competitive singles tournament of the AoE3:DE era. The $1000 ESOC Challenge Cup will be a cut-throat event held in the month of February for the Top 16 select competitors. To qualify, you'll need to be among the highest rated players on the 1v1 Supremacy Elo leaderboard, as only the 16 players with the highest rating will be seeded into the Group Stage. Sign-ups close on the evening of January 28th, so there is still ample time to affect your rating and secure yourself a spot in the ESOC Challenge Cup.

The top 16 players will be seeded into a Group Stage, 4 groups, 4 players in each group. From there, it'll be a 3-week onslaught with only the single player with the best record advancing from each group. The Semi-Finals and Finals will be crammed into a single stacked weekend bash at the end of the month with 80% of the prize pool on the line. Not for the faint of heart, this event is a proving ground for true competitors.

To read up more on the tournament rules, click here. Here's to a great event!

[TheNameDaniel]

why is it only 16 players?

[Aykin Haraka]

is it riotcoke tourney ?

[Rohbrot]

Finally, the first DE tournament will occur next month!
I hope till there that the Spectator UI will be improved (what im not optimistic about, sadly).
Whose idea was this with the group stages? I liked the format a lot!

[Rohbrot]

why is it only 16 players?

I guess cuz it is tiring to watch that many recorded games back to back, especially when its with groups then u have to actually have 32 players (what would take too long for a tourney)

[juhjuh]

why is it only 16 players?

i think its the 5th closed tournament in a row

[TheNameDaniel]

Why is the first major tournament a group stage thing and not like a championship

[Cometk]

Why is the first major tournament a group stage thing and not like a championship

Consider this an ESOC Minor Tournament, along the same lines as the New Year's Classic or Stay-at-Home Cup.

[I_HaRRiiSoN_I]

Consider ranked 1v1 games now on the ladder as a mini tourny Bo1 Group match

Get out there and earn those points,

[giveuanxiety]

cool to see, but I do agree I would of liked to see a 32 player tournament a lot more.

[Thrar]

Great to see this!

After a quick look at the format, I don't quite understand why it's Bo5 but counting the number of wins during the group stage. If it's the number of wins that counts in the end, wouldn't it be more fair to do it as a play-all-5 so everybody gets the same number of games to play?

[Cometk]

Great to see this!

After a quick look at the format, I don't quite understand why it's Bo5 but counting the number of wins during the group stage. If it's the number of wins that counts in the end, wouldn't it be more fair to do it as a play-all-5 so everybody gets the same number of games to play?

Advancement is based on series’ wins. Total # of games won is one tiebreak mechanism.

[Mr_Bramboy]

why is it only 16 players?

Unfortunately, Microsoft's backend infrastructure does not allow us to host open tournaments with many players in them as of now. The game is still in beta, after all.

[I_HaRRiiSoN_I]

I wonder if there will be a balance patch inbetween now and start of tourney. Would love to see a large scale tourny once i am satisfied that civ viability is improved. Would love to see what changes in this balance patch would entail given that they have people paid to look into it.

[comradecommissar]

I wonder if there will be a balance patch inbetween now and start of tourney. Would love to see a large scale tourny once i am satisfied that civ viability is improved. Would love to see what changes in this balance patch would entail given that they have people paid to look into it.

https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/age-o ... n/114010/8

There should be?

[I_HaRRiiSoN_I]

I wonder if there will be a balance patch inbetween now and start of tourney. Would love to see a large scale tourny once i am satisfied that civ viability is improved. Would love to see what changes in this balance patch would entail given that they have people paid to look into it.

https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/age-o ... n/114010/8

There should be?

Ah i havent seen that, maybe that was a reaction to drongo stirring up that a new patch was imminent. Looking at that statement i dont see the word balance in their at all so fingers crossed that there are a few well thought out changes in there. This could be the mega patch we all want.

[comradecommissar]

I wonder if there will be a balance patch inbetween now and start of tourney. Would love to see a large scale tourny once i am satisfied that civ viability is improved. Would love to see what changes in this balance patch would entail given that they have people paid to look into it.

https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/age-o ... n/114010/8

There should be?

Ah i havent seen that, maybe that was a reaction to drongo stirring up that a new patch was imminent. Looking at that statement i dont see the word balance in their at all so fingers crossed that there are a few well thought out changes in there. This could be the mega patch we all want.

Im hoping the delay is because of that. They also mentioned testing, which is welcome given that previous patches broke almost as much as they fixed sometimes.

[gibson]

I wonder if there’s a way to keep people on the same patch throughout a tourney

[I_HaRRiiSoN_I]

I wonder if there’s a way to keep people on the same patch throughout a tourney

I wouldnt know personally about it, (maybe this has been talked about) but a patch was said to come out in January with this tournament starting in Feb. Unless the devs can see the value of it then i guess the answer is no and hope that a patch doesnt drop mid way through a game week.

In a major/seasonal tourny you could almost guarantee a patch mid tournament so i guess we will just have to live with that and adapt meta on the fly

[lemmings121]

cool to see, but I do agree I would of liked to see a 32 player tournament a lot more.

maybe 256 so I could signup?

[lemmings121]

I wonder if there’s a way to keep people on the same patch throughout a tourney

a patch was said to come out in January with this tournament starting in Feb

finally a big nerf to china is on the way, and another extra 100f crates start for fre.

[chris1089]

I wonder if there’s a way to keep people on the same patch throughout a tourney

a patch was said to come out in January with this tournament starting in Feb

finally a big nerf to china is on the way, and another extra 100f crates start for fre.

We know this is because we know all the balancers are skirm-goon bots who don't like other playstyles.

[gibson]

I wonder if there’s a way to keep people on the same patch throughout a tourney

I wouldnt know personally about it, (maybe this has been talked about) but a patch was said to come out in January with this tournament starting in Feb. Unless the devs can see the value of it then i guess the answer is no and hope that a patch doesnt drop mid way through a game week.

In a major/seasonal tourny you could almost guarantee a patch mid tournament so i guess we will just have to live with that and adapt meta on the fly

Well it would be fairly easy to get the devs to set it up so that players could still play on an old patch even if a new patch is released.

[harcha]

I wonder if there’s a way to keep people on the same patch throughout a tourney

I wouldnt know personally about it, (maybe this has been talked about) but a patch was said to come out in January with this tournament starting in Feb. Unless the devs can see the value of it then i guess the answer is no and hope that a patch doesnt drop mid way through a game week.

In a major/seasonal tourny you could almost guarantee a patch mid tournament so i guess we will just have to live with that and adapt meta on the fly

Well it would be fairly easy to get the devs to set it up so that players could still play on an old patch even if a new patch is released.

Do it pls.

[gibson]

That was bad phrasing. It would be pretty easy for the devs to do it. It will not be easy to get them to do it.